Traynor YBA200 Head

Everything you need in a 100% tube bass head at giveaway prices.

Lots of tone control, line and tuner out, pre & post-eq, pre-amp out and amp in, switchable impedance for speakers, inputs for active/passive pickups.

I use this amp with matching 2x10 +1x15 + horn cabinet in my practice/studio, not for gigging. It's plenty loud if I want to dust the furniture. Tube watts are to many ears about 50% louder than solid state because of the generally increased sustain of tubes vs mosfet. This rig is easily twice as loud without unwanted distortion as my Ampeg SVT 150 solid state.

Comes with solid proper handles for transport and does not weigh a ton.

My main bass is an Ibanez ATK, and this combo is a dream come true.

I can generate any sound from the Beatle-bass clone THUMP THUMP THUMP to aggressive like a Ric 4003 with this setup with no distortion.

Some folks have complained about the lack of variety of sounds in their tube amps. I would venture to say that more often than not their pickups or technique may be the culprits.

No problems with this unit so far.

In terms of routine service, ALL tube amps will need their tubes replaced, but Traynor is one of the few mfgrs who design the amp to be user-serviceable in this regard, since there is no manual biasing by a tech involved when changing tubes.

This is the 4th Traynor I buy, so maybe I'm a little biased, but with reason.

I did have an issue with another Traynor product that had been damaged in shipping after an eBay purchase last year, and within 30 seconds of calling, I was speaking to a real North-American tech with schematics in hand to solve the problem.

Buy it new and you get a bumper-to-bumper 2-year warranty.

Playing bass for a few years only.

Compare the specs of this baby with Orange, Fender, boutique etc. and realize that this is Made in Canada, backed by technicians who speak Amp in English, at a fraction of "hand-wired" prices.

Purchased Amp back in Xmas 2006 in Bendigo Australia via recommendation through Soundworks in Melbourne via their Amp Tech/ Graham. Was looking for a Bass Valve Amp that wouldn't cost the earth and deliver a pretty good overall sound for my Rock Covers Band. Pretty Basic Features which is what I want, not bells and whistles to distract you from a traditional bass sound. 200 watts All valve is enough for most venues we play. Put through a reasonable PA System delivers every time. Tubes are the way to go for traditonal Bass Sounds from the 60's through to the eighties.

Am currently a Fender American Series P/Bass Passive & Musicman Stingray 4 Active. Both basses are fine for the Traynor with both Passive and Active Inputs, one thing is that with the Active bass you need to dial down the highs a bit becomes a bit high fi in sound. The reasonace is a great addition to this amp particularly for outdoor concerts or larger venues. Creates very good bottom end definition. Have not used this Amp over 5 or 6 in the Master Volumn, has plenty of head room that does not break up when turned up in volumn as some Solid State Amps tend to do.

Excellent reliability, touch wood has been very good.
Only issue is when turning on the amp on standby(orange)then waiting a few minutes to warm up. Switch over to (red)their is a defined pop noise that happends does not effect the amp at all. Its like it clicks in for the speaker bin.

Have not used yet. Did have a couple of emails to them regarding enquiries all answered promptly.

Have been playing in Bands for over 20 od years know on and off. Am still looking for a an Ampeg CL Classic Head down the track would consider, has to be the American Head only. Issues with the Vietnam Ones. This amp is more than suitable for what genre I play including both the active and passive basses I use. Good bang for your buck in my opinion. Have heard that the matching cabs can be an issue with the heads, although I can say by having combination 2 x 10 + 1 x 15 is a good cab mix anyway rated at 400 watts is fine. Ealier models should have had castors on them though.

first version with detachable powercord. early 2000's id guess was manufacture date

i play indie rock/ folk rock/ screamo it suits my sound perfectly.

i previously owned a orange ad200 head. the traynor (with mods i did blows it away!) compare the 2599$ cdn plus tax i paid for the orange to the $500 cdn USED price i paid for the traynor! i replaced the 12ax7 tubes with 12at7's a new 12au7 and 4 brand new kt88 tubes. all electro harmonix. cost of mod was about 350$ well worth it. in total $850 invested in the traynor. since i have the first version its self bias so i just plugged in the new tubes and turned it on and bam i have new KILLER LOUD tone.

*after the mod i have much more clean headroom and tighter low and with definable highs. 200 watts is MORE than enough if u play with dynamics!

* made in canada with love. traynor TUBE amps are highly under rated and id even say under priced for the quailty and sound.

i rate it at 9 since i had to change the tubes. they should all come with kt88s and the 12at7s!! best head i ever owned in the 19 years ive been playing and ive had dozens or heads!


i use an ampeg svt classic 810 cab with it ..

i play a fender jaguar bass (only use passive switch NOT ACTIVE!)

no hiss or hums unless im plugged in on ungrounded circuits!

sounds like a mini svt with tube mod. before it sounded ok just no cut.

clean at loud volumes now tight and killer! plus CHEAP!!!

i used a traynor monoblock for about 5 years of playing 6 days a week it never failed me once. id trust the yba200 and would bring backup tubes just incase.

i doubt it will break down its built sturdy tough and the weight is reasonable for a tube amp.

my warranty long wore out before i bought it. emailed traynor for some advice on tubes they replied that day and let me know exactly what i needed to about the tube mods.

i have 90 days warranty from L&M id probably never use it tho im a diy kinda guy if i fix it myself i know its done right.

ive been playing about 19 years in total, ive owned the orange ad200, eden world traveller head, ampeg v4b, a very uneliable ampeg svt NEVER WILL I BUY A NEW SVT HEAD AGAIN! traynor monoblock II head, plus many more i forget about.

this thing as i said is a great head i wish i had bought it many years before and saved the trouble i had with the overpriced orange head ad200 mk3.

i use a zvex woolly mammoth and a boss tu2. the rig holds its own with the mammoth pounding through it LOUDLY it takes my over aggressive playing when i get too pumped up. im sure it would make me a sandwich if it had arms. the head is just that good. if u have a chance buy one and the upgraded tubes. u will not regret, beware of overpriced garbage !!

Very good features, good eq, scoop to cut mid, resonance to find several sound characters, D.I. Output balanced very noiseless, preampout and poweramp in.

All valve! Warm sound, very loud! Wonderful with distortion!!

It's the better choiche to have an all valve bass amplifier at low cost!

I think this head is about two years old. It is a 200W all-tube bass head. Single Channel. It has 4 6550 tubes in the output section, and 2 12AX7 and a single 12AU7 for the preamp section.
Overall, this seems to be a quality made head. Built like a tank. The output tubes hang down under the chassis, and have nice spring retainers to keep them in place. The am has a gain, treble, bright switch, mid, range, bass, scoop, resonance, and master volume controls. It has two inputs, one for 0db, and the other for -6db. It has a mute button and a tuner out. It has a xlr DI out on the front panel with pre/post EQ switch for it. Front panel also has pre-out and pwr amp in jacks (1/4") which can be used as an effects loop. The back panel is sparsely populated. 2 1/4' out jacks, a impedance switch, and a power cable jack.
I play mainly rock and alt/rock stuff. It seems to have a little less power than I was expecting it to have. I've been playing a Fender Bassman135 (135 watts) for about 20 years, and really, the Traynor doesn't seem any more powerful than the Fender, even though its stated output is 65 watts more. It has much more tonal versatility than my Fender though, and that is good.
I'll probably end up using it alone in practice with my EarCandy BassBomb 2-12" cab, and for live shows, I'll use it along WITH my Fender Bassman135 and an additional 1-15" cab I've got. It'll be a great addition to my rig and gives me a lot more options.
It is extremely lightweight compared to most high powered tube heads, since it uses toroidal transformers, as opposed to traditional design transformers.

It sound quality is good, although I'm still trying to figure out that 'range' knob, and where it will sound best for my bass (an old 1981 Carvin). It is a little noisier (remarkably) than my 1979 Bassman 135. Although I have to admit, I've almost totally rebuilt the Fender, with newer tighter tolerance components, and improved capacitors.
With the gain all the way up, you get a decent overdrive sound, which isn't entirely pleasant to my ears, but if you back off of it a little, it'll give a nice breakup when you really thump hard on the strings. The resonance control does exactly what you'd expect... deep, low, loose, rumbly. When dialed back counterclockwise, the bass response tightens up a good bit. The treble response is widely varied, depending how you set the 'range' knob and the 'treble' control and/or 'bright' switch.

Don't know yet, I just got it.

I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10 so far. That may change when I gig with it. Hopefully it'll go up. I know my band-mates say that it is improved over the Fender Bassman.

Very versatile for the type of covers we do(New&classic rock)
Used for rehersal, and sm clubs. At this point plenty of power for the type of venues we are playing.

Sounds great with 78' P-Bass, also Soundgear and OLP. We don't play loud to the point of fartin or crapping out

Amp bought in Nov 06 by a buddy who didn't get to use it much. I got it from him in Feb 07. Started to use it for weekly rehersal. In May while rehersing could hear the bottom fall out, Then all of a sudden big white arc from inside. Sent it to Traynor they replaced 4 capacitors, and a power tube. Got it back(ALL COVERED BY WARRANTY) . The first time we used it didn't even make it to the guitar solo and ZAP big white arc. I called Traynor they said send it back. At this point I think I'd be reluctant to gig w/o a back up. I've read all the reviews which is what helped me lean toward Traynor. I hope that this is just an isolated lemon and can be replaced.

So far the warranty(2yrs) has been honoured w/o any problems. Have spoken to a Traynor service rep and was very easy to talk to.

Been playin for a while. I wouln't go with this product if it were lost or stolen. I loved the tone out of it when it works, but hate the unreliability and the inconvenience of sending it back
Amp was chosen for Warranty and deal I got on it.

I do wish the tubs sat in their sockets like the AMPEG,instead of hanging like they do. The way it is designed now is the heat from the tubes,rise and heat the metal plate that the electronics are attached to

Purchased 2007. It may be a bit different from earlier versions (the packaging was nicer than described at other websites and there is a detachable power cord which wasn't on earlier ones from what I've read) but mostly the same YBA200.

The features are good on this amp; if anything, a little more choice than I need since I'm not looking for a deeply versatile tone. Still, it's nice to have more options than needed rather than less.

Check the website for more detail.

Playing with an 07 MiM Fender P-bass (ash body, one of the natural finish factory special run dealies) through an avatar 212 with eminence deltas.

Sounds fucking great. I'm not a tone snob, so it may not pass for the people who have deep enough pockets to buy from electric amp, but I'm also not a fantastic bass player whose skill would be equal to the tone from a 5K boutique amp. Price - skill - tone ratio works out well for me. You'd have to be really, really good at bass to justify spending money on a better head. And I'm not even sure you could coax a much better tone out of a boutique amp.

The overdriven sound on this bass should more than satisfy most users. The only complaint I have is that it's kind of got less headroom for clean use. I'm gonna try swapping the preamp tubes with less gain-ey tubes and see what happens.

Haven't had it for long but it looks and feels rock solid.

Great warranty, you've already heard all about it. From what I hear yorkville has excellent customer service, too, which is always nice.

I'd hate to lose this thing. Although if I did it's cheap enough to replace, which I would do. Having heard plenty of other tube and solid state amps I'm glad to be the owner of such a great sounding piece of equipment. It takes a bit of tweaking to dial in the right sound but when you get it right this thing sounds real, authentic, and deep.

Ignore the corksniffers who mumble about it not being equal to a V4, or say that it sounds horrible. They're clearly off the deep end if they think this thing sounds horrible. It may not fit the bill if you are into boutique amps, but for most users it's a great, ballsy piece of equipment. Besides, if you're into boutique amps or hard to find expensive vintage hardware then you're probably not reading these reviews anyway!

This amp is Straight Up. Built in Toronto, Canada, it is a solid, single channel of pure rock bass rumble.

It doesn't need many features! The best thing about it it its simplicity. My high rating is a compliment to the designers, for not trying to add too many 'bells and whistles' to the amp. Keeping it simple most often keeps it sounding the best.

Played through an AMPEG SVT Classic 410HE with a Music Man Stinray Bass, it is the next best thing to the Ampeg SVT Classic Head. Of course it's rated 100 Watts lower than the Ampeg head, but for a 410 it does the trick. Then consider it costs less than half the price, and lifting it is nice since it's less than half the wight!


Great tube gain, power amp distortion. Lots of high frequencies come across when bass is played with a pick, but that's fixed by turning the cabinet's tweeter way down. When played with the right hand fingers, the tweeter adds some nice definition to the sound.

Coolest thing is you can put you bass through a BIG MUFF and the sound level doesn't DROP!! I always find this happens with solid state amps with too much compression.

THIS AMP KICKS ASS FOR LOUD ROCK PLAYING, for an 'in your face' bass sound.

Amazingly solid construction. Traynor amps are always made in a very 'straight forward' fashion. Plus the two year 'even if you break it' warranty, there are no worries.

purchased in canada at long&mcquade, who own traynor, the customer support is the best it can be. problems with the amp, take it back to any long&mcquade and they will know exactly what to do.

I've tried so many bass amps - combos, head/cabinet configurations and for fat, growly rock tones i've only ever been satisfied by Ampeg SVT heads. The Traynor YBA200 is in my opinion the closest thing, with only a bit less power. It would not be able to drive an 8x10 with the same amount of muscle, but for a 4x10 setup it's more than enough power. and it will keep you from falling too deep in debt!

Bought in 2005. You're familiar with the features.

At first, I was horribly disappointed with the sound. I don't care about how I sound as a bass player - I care about how my bass sounds within the mix of the band. Sound was only good if my bass had new strings. Otherwise, the muddy bottom end was made even muddier by older strings, which really muddied up the band as a whole. The highs were horribly offensive and I would roll off the treble to 2. A few of the other reviewers seem to agree.

HOWEVER - a change of tubes did make a drastic difference. Got rid of all the Sovteks (replaced the power tubes with Winged Cs and used two Tung sols for the preamp with a JJ for the splitter) and the sound was improved by about 400%. The tone was actually very good in our practice space.... in fact the guitarists in the band looked back in appreciation.... but when I had to turn it up a bit more for gigs, the amp would fart out - VERY BADLY. Even to be heard, I had to go DI. This is unacceptable. Now, it may have to do with my amp and cab combination. I play through a Bag End QX10D (probably the best piece of bass equipment I have touched), which may be underpowered by the head. However, this amp did the same thing with two other cabs (Eden and Ampeg) that I used to own. My bass is a Dean Jeff Berlin Standard, a great bass for the money and very articulate. this gear really shouldn't cause the problems I have been having with the YBA200. It deserves a 6, because I don't care if my amp just sounds good at low volumes... now, if you don't need to play at very high volumes, this amp (with a tube swap - I insist!) can perform quite well in the mix.

It is quite reliable for a tube amp. Right now, something sounds wrong with it, and it's likely due to a bad tube.

KEEP IN MIND, even if ANYTHING is wrong with it.. including the fact that you ran it over with your car, the 2 year even-if-you-break-it warranty solves everything in the first 2 years... and if there's something wrong with the amp, the first 2 years will bring it out if you play enough.

Yes, I sent it in for something that I didn't need to (tube amps were all new to me a few years ago). They were great. Easy to talk to. No egos. Helpful.

Same rating as the sound quality.. because sound is the reason for the amp's existence. No, I have not owned any other tube amps, but it looks like I will have to. I have owned this amp for 2 years and got to try it with different basses and cabs, so I got a real good look at it. I have not been playing for very long, but I do feel that my band members and I have a good ear for tone (be it rock, or whatever) and that overall band sound quality is what we pay the most attention to. To give you an idea of what I think of this amp, here's what I plan to do with it: I'll keep it as an amp for practice (as it's LIGHT!!, and as I don't think I will get a decent return on it as I bought it new). I am going to get another amp that can hold it's own in a gig... maybe an ampeg.. who knows. donations are much appreciated.

Very nice feature set. Mute button. Tuner out. Standby switch. Tweeter with pad. Impedence switch. Treble, Mid, and Bass sweeping EQs. As you will notice, these features are all meat and potatoes. Just what a bass rig calls for. No silly frilly whistles that have no real-world use.

Currently I'm playing Southern Gospel, but mix it up with blues and some early 70s rock styles. This rig will do it all, even jazz.

Hey, it's tube. Nothing else compares, right?

Tends to be on the clean end unless you make an effort for the grit. Mids tend to hide unless driven. Low mids could be beefier. Like one other reviewer, I think the matching cab is great, but only when driven. Other wise tends to sound scooped. Really, you can make this kit sound any way you want. May take some tube swapping on the preamp section. No big deal at all.

Well I've had it only about 1 month now, but the build quality is like a tank.. and it is Canuck-made. That's as good as American for quality.

Had to call the day it arrived because UPS handled the shipping box a bit rough and the metal corner protectors were crushed in on the cabinet. The fella at yorkville sent them out THAT day and I had them in 2 days. Pretty good!

I did recommend that they either double box the cabs for ship, or put some kind of foam corner suspension in the packaging for the cabinet. As it is the cab is shipped straight in the box, with one-wall cardboard.

The head was protected very well for shipping.

So don't publish it. I could care less. This rig deserves all 10s. You are pretty arrogant to ask for an opinion and then threaten not to publish it if we like it too well!

Been playing for over 35 years. Have 3 hammond b3s with twin 122s on each. Have a Peavey Cirrus 6 bass, and a Fender Highway One American Jazz bass. A fender BXR 400 watt head with Peavey 400 watt 15/10s cab. Crate 150 watt bass combo.

Overall, I'm just going giddy on this rating.. Cause Traynor/Yorkville deserves it with this kit. They could have easily charged almost double what they are charging, and it still would have been a good buy.

Compared to a host of solid states. Sorry. No comparison. Tubes!

Do wish it had a removable power chord, or at least wrap brackets.

For loudness maybe some folks will have to do some tube swapping to get the headroom desired, but for most this rig is equal to an SVT right out of the box, except when it comes to weight. This thing is light!

Very well done, Traynor.

Oh.. and DirectProAudio.com was great to deal with and the price was right. Dropship straight from Yorkville, which I prefer.